Western Maryland Rail Trail to detour around Indigo Tunnel to save bats

Bad news for those who were looking forward to biking through the 4350 foot Indigo Tunnel when the Western Maryland Rail Trail is extended west by 4.7 miles in 2012. The trail will instead detour around it. Good news for Margaret Farquar, the state's largest bat refuge won't be disturbed.

State officials said Monday that the 106-year-old tunnel will be fitted with bat gates next spring to keep people out, while allowing the bats to come and go freely. The measure is designed to keep the bats from being disturbed by cyclists and to prevent introduction of disease.

Bike traffic approaching the tunnel will be detoured onto a ramp to the unpaved C&O Canal towpath. After about a mile and a half, cyclists will be returned to the old railroad bed just west of the tunnel, said Harvey Bryant, project manager for the Department of Natural Resources.

The decision won't be official until the National Park Service completes an environmental assessment of the $4.6 million trail project in about nine months. But Bryant said the DNR and the park service have agreed: "We absolutely know which way we're headed. We're going around."

I do like biking through long tunnels, but I'm willing to give it up to save some endangered species. As a former Austin resident I'm well aware of the benefits of bats.

Richard Cushwa, a director and former president of the Cumberland Valley Cycling Club, said a detour onto the tow path would pose difficulties for cyclists on thin-tired road bikes.

"A possible solution is to install a tight-packed crushed stone surface … for the length of this detour," he said. It would "accommodate road bikes very well, and should not impact the historical nature of the Canal."

But Bryant minimized the issue. "We'll probably have to put signs up to let them know it's a little more rugged," Bryant said. But "the majority of people who ride are not riding Tour de France bikes. Most are a hybrid or mountain bikes anyway."

Eventually, Maryland and West Virginia hope to extend the trail another 10 miles to Paw Paw, following the old rail beds, crossing the Potomac six times and passing through the old Stickpile and Kessler tunnels, neither of which hosts bats.

Comments

[Will]

I seem to remember in this year's TDF and Giro that their road bikes did quite well on both strade bianchi (dirt road) and pave` (cobbles). I ride the small section of unpaved Capital Crescent on a road bike frequently, tires are only 23mm wide. This shouldn't pose a problem for most road cyclists with even moderate handling skills, and think of all the rich guano which can now be harvested =)

[John]

The towpath out west can become a quagmire when it rains so this could become an issue. (I have no problem with the tunnel closure, BTW.)

[SJE]

I can support this tunnel closing. Bats are taking a serious hit from fungal disease, and anything we can do to decrease their stress level is good.

I wonder if there is also a rabies angle: I know of cases where spelunkers got rabies from bat caves. Any thoughts?

[Michael H.]

I don't know if I'll ever ride on the Western Maryland Trail but I would prefer not to go through a long, dark and damp tunnel with bats overhead. A detour is fine. A crushed stone surface for the detour on the C&O towpath is a good idea. If I ever rode all the way out there, I'd probably be riding on a cyclocross bike with knobby tires anyway.

At the TDF this year, some of the riders did have problems on the cobblestones. Lance Armstrong popped a tire and lost a lot of time. Frank Schleck, Andy's brother, crashed on the cobblestones and broke his collarbone. He had to drop out of the Tour.

[Washcycle]

I don't know about rabies, but I think the fungus is the real issue.

They have the trail ending in Paw Paw, but the rail line goes all the way to Cumberland, and there's no reason the trail couldn't too. It ends at the same place another abandoned rail line does. That rail line continues along the Potomac all the way to Keyser, WV. But that's all a long way off...

[MLD]

The surface on the tow path isn't like cobbles or a packed dirt road like the CCT. It's much more soft. The issue isn't "oh it's bumpy" the issue is "tires sink into the surface."

[K-Rob]

I'm no bat expert, but I have read what one wrote. Supposedly, the fungus is a secondary condition to an unknown illness, possible a virus, that is causing the bats to prematurely burn through their hibernation fat stores, become weak and susceptable to a variety of illnesses, including the white nose. Otherwise, for the healthly bats without the unknown illness, white nose is a non-fatal nuisance that widely exists much like humans deal with athlete's foot. In the future, science may show that the bat gates helped in some way, but for now it's not possible to show whether the gates have an impact on the unknown disease causing the bats to burn through the fat stores. So I suppose I'm for the gates also, so I don't snort 4,350 feet worth of unknown bat virus.

[Dick Larrick]

I walked thru the Indigo Tunnel the last days of April,2011.I saw no signs of bats,or there poo.I know they go somewhere in the Winter to WV.
We have a cabin along the WMRT bike path,near Hancock,an had bats there.We are about 8 miles from the tunnel.It would be a real
shame for the public not to see that tunnel,and the way it was constructed,just to see what man could build with very little machinery ,and a lot of sweat,is worth the walk thru the tunnel.

[J. Bob]

Bats often hibernate where you can't see them. Studies have counted more than a thousand bats leaving in the spring. Its nice that for all the caves that have been destroyed through mining or entrances filled in, that this manmade structure is serving as a replacement. There are thousands of other places to bike, many with tunnels, so why not leave such an important site alone. Try the nearby Allegheny Highlands Trail if you want to bike through a nice long tunnel.

[r tobesman]

did you go alone? it had water in it when we hent so we didnt go through how much debris

[r tobesman]

we road down high germany rd. other day the rr crosing leading to indago was gated with very fresh tire tracks ,have they put up the bat gates yeat